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Elegant Wozniacki eyes her chance

LONDON —Caroline Wozniacki might uncharitably be described as the big girl for the small occasion. No woman in the game has ever won more than her 23 tour titles without also furnishing the CV with at least one Major trophy.

Wozniacki is aiming to improve her patchy Wimbledon record by reaching her first quarter-final here. Photo: Getty Images

Wozniacki is aiming to improve her patchy Wimbledon record by reaching her first quarter-final here. Photo: Getty Images

LONDON —Caroline Wozniacki might uncharitably be described as the big girl for the small occasion. No woman in the game has ever won more than her 23 tour titles without also furnishing the CV with at least one Major trophy.

It is almost inconceivable that this elegant and versatile player, a former world No 1 no less, has never made incursions beyond the last 16 at Wimbledon, but she again clutches a chance to correct the aberration after a 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Camila Giorgi on Saturday that belied her wretched record on this stage.

A fourth-round date against Spain’s Garbine Muguruza today marks Wozniacki’s finest chance to reach a first Wimbledon quarter-final.

But the Dane could be forgiven for harbouring a certain paranoia about her eight-year Major-less streak. Her decision to take to Court No 1 with Giorgi wearing the same necklace that she had chosen for last year’s New York Marathon suggested that she was seeking some form of providential aid.

For Wozniacki, at the age of 24, is entering what could be termed Pam Shriver territory, in honour of the willowy American who long held her own with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova but whose lack of Major triumphs made her the perennial bridesmaid.

Wozniacki looked far from a shrinking wallflower in swatting aside Giorgi, a temperamental opponent who had often troubled her. So effectively did the world No 5 neutralise the Italian’s threat, committing not a single unforced error in the opening set while Giorgi made 20, she was at a loss to explain why her Wimbledon pedigree was so patchy.

“Yeah, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have been able to make it past the fourth round,” Wozniacki, who has fallen at this stage four times, said. “I’ve won Eastbourne, I’ve won the Wimbledon juniors. I feel very comfortable on the grass and I love playing here.”

She has so far appeared restored to the graceful talent who stood at the summit of the world rankings for 67 weeks in 2010 and 2011. There was no suggestion of the back injury that forced her to withdraw her from her Eastbourne tune-up this month, and no trace of the anxieties that have often paralysed her in the early rounds.

While she had seemed on edge in advance of this month, snapping at a reporter who asked one too many questions about Giorgi, she eclipsed the 31st seed with ease. “I was very happy to win this one,” Wozniacki said. “She is such a tricky opponent, she hits the ball so hard. I’m pleased at how I managed to keep my composure. I have been playing really well.”

She was pressed on whether the high temperatures could be an impediment to her progress but merely smiled at Britain’s obsession with heatwaves. “It’s nice and warm, but cold compared to some of the hot days we have in Australia,” she said.

Wozniacki, who is yet to drop a set, can draw comfort from how relatively benign her draw looks now, after Germany’s Angelique Kerber and defending champion Petra Kvitova became the fifth and sixth of the women’s top 10 seeds to fall in the first week.

The only seeded players left in her road to this Saturday’s final are Muguruza (20th), Agnieszka Radwanska (13th), Jelena Jankovic (28th), and Madison Keys (21).

For Wozniacki, the opportunity of surging to a third Major final has seldom been so tantalising.

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